John Kerry is now a blog brother. Well, maybe a blog 2nd cousin once removed.

We've seen considerable evidence that we can no longer make the distinction between the blogosphere and the MSM. Bloggers get invited to Washington to schmooze with Senators and get all three House leadership candidates to teleconference with them. Now Kerry gets his own Kos diary. That is about as mainstream as it gets, which is why I've been substituting "elite" media for MSM lately.

Kerry is courting Kos readers for the same reason the RNC is schmoozing Powerline etal...the audience isn't huge, but its dynamic. Its the same reason Kerry will go on Meet the Press at the drop of a hat--hardly anyone watches the program, but those who do are a very desirable demographic for a politician.

Speaking of Powerline, I see that Hinderaker has posted on the topic, although I don't necessarily agree with his conclusion.

John Kerry is posting on the Daily Kos. Keep that in mind next time someone tells you that the Kos Kidz are just a bunch of unemployed teenagers, and not the heart and soul of the Democratic Party.

Not heart and soul, but certainly a major constituency among primary voters--ask Howard Dean.

This of course, it was this is all about. Kerry's first go around was fairly smooth--he was a decorated Vietnam vet who looked like Abe Lincoln. He got himself lionized in a book and the package was an easy sell to the Crat contributor base. He could afford to look down his nose at Howard Dean the outsider. Now of course, he's damaged goods to say the least, and the Howard Dean route is about the only way to stay in the game. Yet the comments on his post (Bush hasn't captured bin Laden, blah-blah-blah) are mixed.

Kerry has to walk a very fine line on Kos--his post was pretty much boilerplate Cratslam on Bush which any mainstream politician could get away with, but it will not be enough to endear him to the Kossacks. Several commenters were dubious that it was Kerry--probably a staffer. The comment stream devolves in to moaning about the stolen election and counting the votes in Ohio (nevermind Pennsylvania and Wisconsin...). I take two lessons from this--to really make it work wth the far left in the party, Kerry is going to have to get personal. Authorizing a staffer to post boilerplate in his name is not going to do the trick. He is also going to have to honestly address issues like "stolen election" or whatever other conspiracy theories the left is on about. I think he has to realize that he is competing with Al Gore for moonbat credentials, so he'll have to be at least as nuts as Al is.

Failing that, the entire exercise is wasted, and probably hurts more than it helps.